the firm was purchased by patton boggs and he is now senior counsel at squire patton boggs. jason vermeil earned a specialist degree from brown university and along the way became the 1988 national collegiate debate champion. he has a lot of -- a logically from harvard and founded and directed the national commission on energy policy. in 2070 cofounded the policy center along with former senate majority leader baker daschle dole and miller. he is a present at the bipartisan center and his new book city of rivals restoring the glorious mess of american democracy. the biographical portion of the program now i'm morning's mechanics. america's natural gas alliance sponsoring a number of moderate breakfast including today's. our thanks go to marty durbin at the table back there with his colleagues helping ensure this survives another year on the monitor payroll. as always we are on record here. please no live blogging or tweeting and no filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway to give us time to actually listen to what our guests says. there is no embargo and the sessio